Getting back to the rivers would have huge ecological benefits. The first is that a lot less gas would be spent chasing something that will eventually come right to you.

The fish will be larger, they will be older (Chinook could eventually add years to ocean grazing), the stocks will be way more separate.

If, for example, 100% of the harvest of WB salmon of each species occurred inside the bay and rivers then everybody in the watershed would have a real stake in making sure they had good ecosystems. Why protect the stream banks if you are just feeding Westport Charters or Tofino/Uculet or Sitka?

Oddly enough, early in the Boldt Years Ernie Brannon proposed in a paper (I have somewhere) proposed that management be overseen and conducted by local within-watershed managers. Maybe the time has come......